Raza's painting sold at a record price

Raza's painting sold at record price

Indian artist Syed Haider Raza's work 'Saurashtra' fetched a record Rs 16.42 crore ($3,486,965) at the famous Christie's in London.

Raza's work, done in 1983, considered a monumental painting, was bought by a private Indian Museum. "This sale represents records of every kind. The monumental work Saurashtra by Syed Haider Raza set a World Auction Record not only for the artist but for any modern Indian art in history.

"We are thrilled that this work will return to India as a fitting tribute to the artist and a celebration of art from this region," Hugo Weihe, Christie's International Director of Asian Art and Yamini Mehta, Head of Sale, said in a joint statement.

Raza's painting sold at a record price

Raza's work 'La Terre' was sold for 1.27 million pounds (Rs 8.56 crore) on June 30, 2008.

The two-day sale of South Asian Modern Contemporary Art including property from The Estate of Francis Newton Souza of India realised a total of 12,462,425 pounds and was 98 per cent sold by value and 91 per cent sold by lot.

Showing the depth of enthusiasm and passion to obtain rare objects, the sale realised an overall total of 12. 4 million pounds, becoming the most valuable sale of this category in history, they said in the statement.

"We are honoured that Maqbool Fida Husain attended the auction and pleased that he saw all works by his hand sell successfully," the statement said. Masterworks by Subodh Gupta, Gaitonde and Tyeb Mehta all roared past their high estimates.